Dancing around the world

IT'S late at night. The telephone rings at Dean Pitchford's home. He answers it and hears the caller singing down the line. She wants him to listen to her latest song - and when a singing superstar of the magnitude of Barbra Streisand sings, you listen.

"She's a person who likes to collaborate like this. She called at midnight and was in her studio. She said, 'Can you listen to this?' and sang down the phone," he recalls.

Pitchford is used to such requests. The former actor has written top ten hits for the likes of Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Diana Ross and Cher as well as Streisand.

Now the man who's sold over 50 million records has been overseeing his latest project, the British premiere of the stage version of the hit 1980s movie Footloose. With songs including Holding Out For A Hero, Let's Hear It For The Boy and the title track, this has a ready-made audience.

Pitchford is co-author (with Walter Bobby) and lyricist of the show, already seen in Sunderland and which tours to Newcastle and Darlington in the coming months before going into London's West End.

He's taken the opportunity of the British staging to "tweak" the production, which ran for two years on Broadway and is now touring American cities.

Since the New York run he's been what he calls "dancing around the world" making changes with shows in places like Australia and Japan. Last summer he and British director Paul Kerryson began planning the UK production.

Pitchford - who's been nominated for four Oscars (winning once for Fame), two Tonys and five Grammys - has been working with his collaborators on new lyrics and cutting songs.

After seeing the show in Birmingham, he declared himself pleased with the new-look Footloose. "It's like collaborating on a new show. This is the first time this recipe has been baked," he says. "I flew in last week and was very interested to see it plays like a rocket."

Some 31 pages of a 90-page script have changed, although the basic story remains the same - new boy in small American town challenges the law that bans dancing and dates the local minister's free-spirited daughter.

Pitchford maintains that he was "dragged kicking and screaming" into turning Footloose the hit film in Footloose the stage musical. The person responsible was Carol Schwartz, wife of composer Stephen Schwartz with whom Pitchford did the musical Godspell 30 years ago.

"Carol, who was an actress, said, 'Would you please do a stage adaptation of Footloose because there are so few shows kids can do'. She stayed on me for years and finally I said I'd see what I could do," he explains.

What began as a show that teenagers could stage in school turned into a Broadway hit. Paramount, which owned the rights, knew it was hot property because the film was rented out so much on video.

"I can't say I ever anticipated it would end up on Broadway," admits Pitchford. "I thought people might want to do it in schools, summer stock and church groups. Now it's played all over the world."

When the show was released to schools 18 months ago, there were an amazing 480 productions in the first year. It's the number two rental behind The Sound Of Music. "It's a blockbuster," he adds, needlessly.

Ironically, Paramount now wants to make a film of the stage show of the film.

Pitchford describes looking after Footloose as "my part-time job", adding that "it's become a bit of an industry". When he's not Footloose and fancy free, he's busy working with top singers on recordings.

One of his current projects is writing songs for the Disney cartoon sequel Bambi 2. He also recorded a track with Pop Idol winner Will Young for another Disney-animated film. Pitchford was in California, Young was in another studio in London.

"I could talk into his earphones, but never saw him. We had the most wonderful recording session with a 92-piece orchestra. We only had a three-hour slot to do it," he says.

* Footloose plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal from May 10-15 (tickets 0870 905 5060) and Darlington Civic Theatre from June 7-12 (tickets 01325 486555).